Nature Vs Nurture
by AMKelley
Summary: Alex's parents are out (which is a rare occurrence) so he brings a boy home for some fun. But, like all good things in his life, gets cut short when Josh walks in on them engaging in some more intimate activities. Josh is only worried about Alex getting pregnant.


Alex was thankful that his parents were out tonight. He was successful in seducing his latest crush and brought him back to his place for some fun. They had stumbled all the way to his bedroom and eager youthful hands made quick work of stripping eachother of their clothes. Alex stumbled blindly backwards onto the bed with the boy falling on top of him.

They both chuckled when they bumped heads and rubbed at them in faux pain, kissing with giddiness as Alex ?the boy straddled Alex's lap. The boy sat back, letting his black bangs cascade over one brown eyes that was creased in glee. This was Alex's best catch yet.

His name was Sid and he was what most people would call emo, even though there was nothing in his personality to suggest that at all. He was a happy person that enjoyed outdoor activities and listened to country music. Just because he kept his hair longer than most boys and wore certain clothes, people were quick to stereotype him by appearance alone.

He'd been that way since high school when Alex first met him, before Sid had come to terms with himself. They weren't exactly friends in high school but Alex knew him well enough to know that his image didn't reflect his inner self. Sid just liked his hair shaggy and wearing tight pants. He never heard Alex complain anyway.

Sid grinned and bent down to kiss Alex along his jaw, nipping at his chin then planting a soft kiss against his lips. Alex whispered something that made Sid giggle and he let Sid pull the waist band of his boxers down. Sid's legs bracketed Alex's thighs and the dark haired boy raised his hip up to slide his underwear down.

But before Sid's underwear could be completely forgotten, the door creaked behind him and a small gasp had him clambering off of Alex's bare lap and covering himself up. Well... He felt thoroughly embarrassed now. Alex's little brother Josh had walked in on them in the throws of foreplay.

"I thought you said we'd be alone," Sid whispered to Alex.

"My brother was supposed to be staying the night at his friend's house," Alex mumbled back, slapping himself mentally at his brother's untimely arrival.

Josh just stood in the doorway frozen as Sid climbed out of Alex's bed to get dressed, trying his best to not expose himself further to the little boy's eyes. Sid gave an excuse of having to be somewhere and squeezed past Josh, leaving Alex naked on the bed.

Alex sat up and pulled his bowers up over his thighs to cover himself and he motioned Josh over to sit down beside him on the bed. He grabbed the back of Josh's thin neck tenderly. Alex dreaded this day would come when he'd have to explain to Josh what he just saw.

"What are you doing home, Josh?"

"Joey got really sick so his dad brought me home so I wouldn't catch it," Josh said meekly, not meeting Alex's eyes.

"Listen Josh," Alex sighed, "about what you just saw..."

"I know how babies are made, Alex," Josh said curtly.

"That's good to know, but this isn't about how babies are made. Has mom or dad "talked" to you?" Alex asked vaguely.

"What do you mean?"

"Have they talked to you about sex?"

Josh shrugged one shoulder and bit on the inside of his cheek, eyes darting between Alex's feet and the ground. He seemed uncertain or nervous about where Alex was going with this and he responded with a mumbled "I dunno". Alex sighed and wrapped an arm around his little brother's tiny frame, pulling him in close so they could have a heart to heart.

"Well, when two people love eachother very much-"

"Oh no!" Josh exclaimed, the worry and shock written all over his face. "You're not pregnant are you?!"

"What? No!" Alex said confused.

"Did you get that guy pregnant?!"

"No! Just wait a minute! Let me explain." Alex snapped.

Josh settled down and looked up at Alex with big puppy eyes after making him raise his voice at him. Alex hardly ever had to raise his voice to Josh and it always seemed to shock the younger one when he did. Josh respected his big brother and he knew Alex meant business when he was loud.

"No one's pregnant, don't worry," Alex reassured with a softer tone, patting Josh on the back affectionately. He gave Josh a small smile and Josh beamed back, ducking his head to rest it against Alex's bare chest shyly.

"Good. Because I'm not ready to be an uncle," Josh murmured.

"You don't have to worry about that, Josh. Boys can't get pregnant. Only girls can."

"Then what's wrong? Why do we need to talk?" Josh inquired naively.

Alex took a deep breath. "Well, when you're a little older, in high school, you'll start to notice girls and you'll probably have a girlfriend. And you'll get curious and want to do things. All you need to know is that you need to be careful and always use protection. Do you understand?"

"I guess," Josh shrugged. "Do I have to have a girlfriend when I'm older?"

"Well, not if you don't want to."

"Can I ask you something?" Josh said hesitantly.

"Sure."

"Why were you with a boy?"

Alex bit his bottom lip and sighed deeply, closing his eyes and concentrated on a perfect way to put it for Josh to understand without confusing him too much. But either way Josh would be confused regardless of how he worded it. He decided to break it down subtly. Well... Sort of.

"Because boys are more fun," Alex said frankly. Josh made a face and Alex rephrased himself. "I like boys instead of girls."

"Really?" Josh asked, eyebrows quirked up and lips twisted in an unreadable expression.

"More or less," Alex shrugged.

"Is that normal?"

"Some people wouldn't say so. But I think it is."

Josh nodded and seemed to contemplate Alex's words, sort of getting what he was aiming at. After all, Josh wasn't completely naive, he knew some things about homosexuality but he didn't know how some people would frown upon such "acts".

"Can I like boys too?" Josh asked excitedly, brown eyes lighting up like a christmas tree.

"Well..." Alex trailed off hesitantly, not knowing what to say. "If you want to you can. You don't have to."

"Great!"

Josh hopped up and threw himself at Alex, wrapping his thin arms around Alex's neck and kissing him on the lips. Josh was so excited because he wanted to be just like his brother and do what Alex did. He pecked little half hearted kiss all over Alex's face and Alex peeled Josh off of him with a nervous chuckle.

"Okay, soldier. Calm down now," Alex tittered.

Josh stuck out his tongue and tackled Alex, pinning him to the bed while successfully making Alex bump the back of his head against the wall. Alex hissed in pain and Josh stopped laughing for a second to see if he was okay. But it was all a trick because Alex grabbed Josh and flipped them over.

The younger one made a surprised sound as Alex climbed on top and started to tickle every part of body available to him. Josh giggled like a maniac as his big brother tickled him silly, kicking and howling, begging him to stop. But Alex was merciless in his tickle assault and refused to stop unless he saw tears.

Alex was towering over Josh and it gave him a better advantage to zero in on Josh's most vulnerable spot: his hipbones. Josh whimpered and whined and twisted in Alex's sheets, trying in vain to get away from the nudging fingers. But he couldn't. Josh's eyes started to water from too much laughter and Alex decided to take pity and stop torturing the poor boy.

"You know what I think it's time for?" Alex asked rhetorically. "Movies."

Josh light up and practically bounced off the walls with joy. He ran out of the room to go pick out some movies, running back and forth between the living room and kitchen to get snacks. Alex walked down the hall and down the stairs watching Josh fondly as he rambled on about all the movies they were going to watch. He loved seeing Josh fired up.

Alex couldn't really complain about not getting lucky tonight, he'd rather spend time with Josh anyway.

And later when it was well into the night, after their parents had come home and went to bed, Alex held Josh in his arms. The young boy snored quietly, any noise coming from him unheard as Alex finished the ending of Saving Private Ryan. He smirked to himself, ruffling Josh's hair as his eyelids became heavier and soon fell asleep too.

Just another friday night at the Shepherd house.


End file.
